Mars

This summer has been wonderful. Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars have all made their closest passes during the warm summer months. Being in summer means they're lower in the sky than if it was winter, but it's much more pleasant to be outside with the telescope. Mars is a surprisingly difficult target because it's so small and there isn't much detail on the planet. Mars also hasn't played along this year, deciding to have a planet-wide dust storm during the optimal time to see Mars. Sadly it seems like this same dust storm killed the Opportunity rover. When it finally started clearing I was able to get some surface detail on the planet.

For this image I used the cell phone video process again, it seems to be pretty solid for planetary photography. I'm happy with the amount of detail I get in this image, but it seems a bit flat.

Mars2- less halo